Malfunctioning car

Feb 25th, 2018

On the road again!

We were leaving Marcia and Bob with tears in our eyes... They are the best hosts ever!
We spent fantastic time with them and we miss them already. We went to say goodbye to Marcia's mother and we parted from the parking lot that hosted our RV for 9 days and nights.

We were driving to Tomoka State Park, about 115 miles south, when the car started making suspicious noises. First we heard an unfamiliar whistle sound while climbing the connecting bridge of Amelia island to the mainland, than it became a more disturbing noise. It sounded like a metal to metal friction noise whenever accelerating. The tension grew and the mood went down...
What is the problem? Is it the engine? - Doesn't sound like it is...
Is it the gear? - No way, transmission shifts smoothly...
Then what could it be??? We reduced speed, drove really carefully, hoping to reach our destination safely, park the RV and then deal with the car.

Arriving to Tomoka State Park was a relief. The site we got was narrow with no space to maneuver... up until now we always parked in a pull through sites. Mind you that we are not experienced with pull back parking... it took us quiet a while. We settled and started searching for a Ford service near us.

The next morning we drove to a garage in Daytona Beach. While driving there, we hardly heard the noise. It meant that when you load the car it amplifies the problem. We had to leave the car for them to dig in for the reason that causes the noise.

On Tuesday, Feb 27th, we rented a car (Nissan Pathfinder) for 3 days, hoping our car will be fixed by then.

We didn't let the unexpected change our plans!

The Nissan hardly needed a driver... the cruise control and the sensors' system did the whole job! The car accelerated and reduced speed as needed, notifying when it was safe to pass and when it wasn't...
A real treat! We drove with it 450 miles in 3 days and enjoyed it very much!

On Friday, we had to vacate our RV site and move to the next stop...We had to have the car fixed and it was! The problem was in one of the catalytic converters. It completely failed. They replaced it.
We went to the garage, took the car and left "only" $ 3350 at www.garyyeomansford.com. This was painful!!! Then we returned the rented car.
Driving to our next stop at Camelot RV Park was nice and stress less. The car towed the trailer smoothly and easily. Now we cross our fingers that this was the last failure.🙏